


Some Kind of Blessing Here (The Big Gesture Remix)

by emperorpenguin (dortmundbvbbabe)



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Friends With Benefits To Lovers, M/M, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-16 16:24:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10575060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dortmundbvbbabe/pseuds/emperorpenguin
Summary: Willy and David have an arrangement- one that's convenient for both of them and works, until David realizes that he wants more. Even the Bruins think that they deserve more. It's only after David is convinced that Willy is who he wants that he realizes Willy might not be his, at least not anymore and breaks off the deal shocking Willy. It's only in the post-season that Willy surprises David at his house and they have a much needed conversation.*Slight AU since Leafs aren't in the playoffs in this fic.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Vidriana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vidriana/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Some Kind of Blessing Here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9662909) by [Vidriana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vidriana/pseuds/Vidriana). 



There was always a routine that they had when they played each other. They’d often grab dinner together beforehand- since they were in Toronto it was Willy’s responsibility to pick the place. He decided on some new pub and David was relieved that he hadn’t tried to persuade him that lutefisk was actually delicious. 

David was always a little jealous with how good Willy’s English was. His own English had improved for sure, and it was still better than his Swedish, but it took him a while to say what he wanted to say. Of course, Willy had grown up in the United States so he was naturally better, but he was always patient with David, even back when they were in Sweden together. 

“How’s Toronto?” David asked.

“Good,” Willy shrugged, “I mean it’s easier since I’m living with Kassu.”  
“Kassu?”  
“Uh, Kasperi Kapanen, I told you about him, right?”

“I didn’t know you were living together,” David said.

“Yup.”

They talked a little more about hockey, but caught up on how each other’s families were doing. “Are you coming to my place afterwards?” Willy asked.

“Yeah, if it’s okay,” David said.

“Yeah,” Willy agreed.

“What time do you need to leave in the morning?” 

“Team breakfast is at eight.”  
“Okay, I’ll bring you back in the morning, then.”

Willy brought them back to the ACC hours before the game begin and the teams needed to actually be there. “Hey, have a safe game, okay?”

“You, too.”

 

The rest of the Bruins came in on the bus, knowing that David would probably be there waiting for them. 

“How’s the boyfriend?” Krug asked as they got dressed. 

“He’s not my boyfriend,” David said. 

“Okay, boyfriend… partner, whatever you want to call it,” Krug said.

It wasn’t taunting. If it had been, Chara would have been up in his face in no time. Instead the teammates nearby just turned in vague curiosity of the direction of the conversation. 

“We don’t date,” David said. 

“Huh,” Krug said. “Sorry, I got it wrong then.”

“We don’t date,” David repeated though this time, it was more to himself.

The thought was already placed in David’s head though. At first it was ridiculous. They were teammates from Sweden who’d become fast friends abroad, besides it wasn’t uncommon for friends from rival teams to meet up for a beer or a dinner before or after a game. To be fair though, very few of them were sleeping together. 

 

Boston lost and David spent a little extra time in the shower before he met up with Willy. They didn’t talk about the game, especially now that they would be playing against each other. Instead of the way it was in Sweden, when they would win together and lose together, they would always be pitted against each other. One would win while the other would lose, it was just the way things were.

Willy had one hand on the wheel as he drove back to his apartment and one hand nested in David’s hair. David leaned into the touch, soaking it up while he still could until the next time that they would meet up. 

Willy sighed when they entered the apartment. He tossed his keys on the counter and dropped his hockey bag haphazardly on the floor. And then he turned to David and it was like something electric had run through him. His hands forcefully yanked off David’s suit coat and fumbled with the buttons. 

“Damn it,” Willy said as he had to pull away from the kiss in order to momentarily focus on undoing the buttons. He nearly tore the shirt open in his urgency. 

“We have all night,” David said, trying to reassure Willy, but he didn’t slow down. He kept kissing David, pulling him closer only to break away to remove additional articles of clothing. They scattered items of clothing throughout the apartment until they were just in their underwear in Willy’s bedroom. 

Willy took charge and David just stared in awe at Willy as he leaned back on David’s bent knees. Willy’s fingers dug into David’s hips and he knew that there would be small bruises there for the rest of the week as a reminder. 

 

“You should wear my sweater next time,” David said after they lay curled up together.

Willy’s head rested on David’s chest and even though they were almost the same size, he fit perfectly there. “Maybe if you win next time.”

There was a slight pause as Willy turned his head and pressed a kiss to David’s chest.

“Krug said that we date,” David said as he played with Willy’s hair. He didn’t dare look at Willy to see his reaction. He didn’t want to see Willy laugh it off, laugh at the idea that they could be real. 

Willy stilled for a moment. The hand that rested on David’s chest felt oddly heavy all of a sudden.

“Yeah?” Willy asked. 

“It was the talk of the dressing room,” David said.

“What did you say?” Willy asked.

“We don’t date,” David said. He waited for Willy to say something like ‘We could’ or ‘we’ve already gone to home plate’, but Willy doesn’t. 

“Yeah, that’s not us.”

David’s heart sank.

They had sex twice more and Willy drove him back to the hotel in the morning as promised. Most days, David would be chirped a little, but his face must have shown his disappointment and hurt since nobody asked him how it went. They all knew that something had happened.

 

Then a few weeks later, David saw the picture online. The bruises were faint, it would be easy for Willy to wave them off as the aftermath of high sticking, but David knew. They were strategically placed and too far apart to be just from hockey. David also knew they weren’t his. Logically, he knew that he had no right to be upset. Willy wasn’t his boyfriend, he wasn’t even a guy he was hooking up with regularly, he was just a friend David slept with when he could. Kasperi was draped over his shoulders and David knew.  _ He  _ was the one who had left the hickeys on Willy. 

 

David didn’t like the photo. He didn’t comment on it. He tried to ignore it, but the photo haunted him. He checked later and the photo had been deleted. For a moment he thought that he’d imagined it, but their smiling faces burned into his dreams and reassured him that it had been real. 

 

_ We should stop this _ . David texted Willy a few days later. It was an agreement that if either of them became serious with someone they could call it off. They weren’t exclusive, hadn’t agreed to be, but David hadn’t hooked up with anyone but Willy- he hadn’t wanted to. Between Krug’s comments though and seeing Willy curled up with Kasperi, David’s blood boiled. But he had no right to be jealous, no right to ask that Willy stop hooking up for some sort of long-distance relationship that would probably end just as quickly as it started. His phone vibrated a few times and he didn’t have to look to know it was Willy replying. He just turned off his phone and when he turned it back on, didn’t read any of the texts or listen to any of the voicemails. What they had was over, they didn’t need to talk about it. 

 

“Why is Nylander sad?” Tuukka asked before practice one day.  
David shrugged. “I don’t know.”  
“Really, because he’s being sad and it’s your fault,” Tuukka said.

“How do you know?” David asked.

“Komarov,” Tuukka showed him the screen of his iPhone where he had pulled up a text conversation with his Finnish teammate. The messages were all in Finnish, but David recognized his own name as well as Willy’s and figured that was what Tuukka was referring to. 

“He says you’re ignoring him.”  
“I didn’t realize you were a relationship counselor,” David snapped.

“You are ignoring him then,” Krug chimed in.

“Not ignoring, just busy.”

“He’s too pretty to be sad,” Krejci said in their native Czech.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” David replied.

“Just… don’t ruin this by being stubborn. If you want him, tell him. He’s not yours, but he could be,” Krejci said as he headed out of the locker room to practice.

David’s heart stopped for a second and Tuukka just waved his phone at David as a reminder. Maybe David had thought that once, when they were both in Sweden and spent lazy days in bed with each other exploring each other’s bodies. Back then, Willy was his, but now, Willy was Kasperi’s. 

  
  


Toronto didn’t make the playoffs, again. David knew that even though it had been a stretch for them to make it, the new rookies including Willy had given the fans hope.

“What are you doing here?” David asked.

Willy shrugged, looking a little sheepish for just arriving at David’s apartment unannounced with only a small suitcase behind him.

“The season ended so I figured I’d stop here before going back to Sweden,” Willy said. 

“I still have practice and games,” David said.

“I know but, you know, I could go and watch,” Willy said. “I might even wear your sweater if you win.”

“That’s something you do if you’re dating,” David said. 

Willy’s overly cheerful grin fell and he swallowed thickly, “Right, and we’re not dating.”

“No.”  
“Are you, um, seeing someone?” Willy asked. Maybe it would have been easier for everyone if David lied. If he said that he had met someone that made him smile the same way that Kasperi made Willy smile, but he’d never lied to Willy and he wasn’t going to start now.

“No.”  
“Oh, I just thought… Why did you break it off?”

“We had agreed earlier,” David said. “If we like someone it would end.”

“Right… but you just said…”

“I’m not dating anyone, but I like him.”  
“Oh… great,” Willy said.

“Fine. You know, I like you,” David snapped, all of the frustration and hurt, mostly at himself finally erupted.

“So why did you end it?” Willy asked.

“The photo,” David said.

“What photo?”

“You and ‘Kassu’ and the marks,” David said embarrassed that he had to go into detail. 

“You saw that? It was only up for like two hours,” Willy said. He approached David as if to hug him, but David just crossed his arms. 

“Kassu-Kasperi had suggested making you jealous. I had hoped that the last time that you visited, you would have suggested making things more serious, but you just kind of shrugged of the idea of us dating to your teammates...”

“I thought you might ask to make it real,” David clarified.

“God, we’re dumb. But he suggested that we take some dumb photo and post it to Instagram to make you jealous, I didn’t think it’d work or that you’d care, but then you sent that text message and I wondered if you’d stop caring…or if you cared too much,” Willy said.  

“You came here thinking that I didn’t want you anymore?” David asked.

“You weren’t replying to my texts or calls, I just wanted to see if there was something left to salvage,” Willy said.

David suddenly closed the distance between them and hugged Willy tightly. He gently stroked his hair and kissed the side of his head. 

“You’d never lose me, not as a friend,” David said as his voice broke unexpectedly.

“Can I have you as more, though?” Willy asked.

“Are you asking me out on a date?” David asked, smiling already though.

“Well, since we’re in Boston, you should probably pick the date, but I might show up in the stands with your sweater on, after all that’s what boyfriends do.” Willy kissed David and this time, unlike the others, there was no rush. He just pulled back to look at his new boyfriend and smiled. 

 

And in Game 6, when the Bruins won their series at home against Washington, if Willy Nylander was sitting in the stands, cheering on his boyfriend, and if he was wearing David’s jersey underneath his coat… well, only the two of them would ever know. Them and the rest of the Bruins who shouted in relief when David brought Willy into the locker room as his boyfriend.   



End file.
